Polypyrrole (Ppy), an electrically conducting polymer has been explored in various biomedical applications including drug delivery, DNA immobilization, biosensors, and as tissue culture. Tissue culture studies employing Ppy thin film substrates have shown that the nature of the counter ion dopant incorporated within the polymer matrix can influence mammalian cell adhesion and proliferation and that the application of electrical stimuli through the Ppy provides a means of controlling cell cycle progression and cell differentiation. Oxidized Ppy is stable under physiological conditions and has both short- and long-term in vivo tissue biocompatibility. Because Ppy can be synthesized electrochemically, thin films of Ppy can be deposited on either flat or complex surfaces. The deposition of Ppy on the surface of medical device (such as vascular stents) could be used to modify the surface so as to elicit favorable cellular responses. However applications of Ppy toward new device development and in emerging fields such as tissue engineering have been hindered by the fact that Ppy is not biodegradable.
It is an object of the present invention to provide biodegradable Ppy analogs that exhibits tissue biocompatibility.